Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Estate of Thomas

547 S.W.2d 694, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 2677
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 10, 1977
DocketNo. 932
StatusPublished

This text of 547 S.W.2d 694 (Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Estate of Thomas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Estate of Thomas, 547 S.W.2d 694, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 2677 (Tex. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

McKAY, Justice.

This is a workmen’s compensation case in which the question presented is whether the death of Amos Thomas was within the coverage afforded by the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Law. Trial was before a jury, and based on the verdict1, the trial court rendered judgment for the Estate of Annie Tolbert Thomas, appellee, for $18,-326.16, against The Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., appellant.

Amos Thomas died by drowning in the swimming pool at the private residence of Gordon Van Liew, President of Cal-Tex Citrus Juice, Inc. (Cal-Tex), a subscriber for workmen’s compensation insurance and Appellant’s insured.

Appellant’s points one and two complain that the trial court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for instructed verdict and [696]*696motion for judgment non obstante veredic-to, and in submitting issue 3 to the jury, because there was no evidence or insufficient evidence to support the jury’s answer that Amos Thomas was not a domestic servant.

Cal-Tex was a company engaged in the business of processing, packaging and distributing chilled citrus products, with offices and plant located at 402 Yale Street, Houston. Cal-Tex was a family-type corporation, and Van Liew owned all the shares of stock. Thomas answered an ad Van Liew had run in the newspaper for a live-in gardener or yardman. Thomas was employed by Van Liew to do yard work at Cal-Tex and to do yard work at Van Liew’s residence. He was carried on the payroll and paid by Cal-Tex. Thomas mowed the lawns, trimmed hedges and swept the yard at Cal-Tex and kept it clean. He had no duties inside the Cal-Tex buildings and never worked anywhere but on the yard or parking area and was classified as a yard man. According to Van Liew’s testimony Thomas usually worked one day and a half to two days at Cal-Tex — usually Wednesdays and Saturdays — and worked the other weekdays at the Van Liew residence. He sometimes worked at the plant on days other than Wednesday or Saturday.

Thomas was not paid any money by Van Liew for his domestic work but he was furnished living quarters above Van Liew’s garage, and Van Liew furnished his meals. Thomas cooked his own breakfast but ate other meals in the Van Liew house. His duties at the Van Liew residence were to cut the lawn, trim the hedges, sweep the walks, water the grass and beds, plant beds and clean the swimming pool. He sometimes cleaned the cabanas around the pool or the garage, but he never worked inside the house.

On Saturdays Thomas would go with Van Liew to the Cal-Tex plant to work, and they would usually leave the Van Liew residence between 9:00 and 10:00 a. m., and Thomas would wait for Van Liew near the garage. On a Saturday morning, between 9:00 and 9:30, after looking for Thomas in the yard and in his living quarters, Van Liew discovered Thomas face down in the water in the deep end of the swimming pool. Van Liew testified Thomas was apparently in the process of cooking his breakfast since he discovered bacon laid out and eggs burned up in the skillet on an electric grill Thomas used. The police were called and an autopsy was performed with a finding that Thomas died from drowning.

The Van Liew maid testified Thomas routinely was cooking or eating his breakfast at the cabana area or cleaning the swimming pool when she arrived at work at approximately 8:00 a. m. each morning, but she was late to work on the morning of his death. A brother of Thomas, Adam Thomas, testified that he went to the Van Liew residence on the morning of Thomas’ death and the swimming pool was clean.

The provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law, Art. 8306, Sec. 2, in part read as follows:

“The provisions of this law shall not apply to actions to recover damages for personal injuries nor for death resulting from personal injuries sustained by domestic servants . . . .”

We believe, and the record conclusively reveals, that Thomas was employed by Van Liew in two capacities — as a domestic servant at the Van Liew residence and as a yardman at Cal-Tex. It appears the case of Hardware Dealers’ Mutual Fire Ins. Co. v. King, 426 S.W.2d 215, 217-218 (Tex.Sup.1968), presents the same fact situation as here present, and is controlling on the legal point under consideration. Judge Calvert’s opinion at pp. 217—218, states:

“A person's contract of employment may provide for services in two capacities or enterprises, in one of which he is covered by the Compensation Act and in the other of which he is not covered. Tex. Emp. Ins. Ass’n. v. Derrick, 207 S.W.2d 199 (Tex.Civ.App.1947, writ ref’d n. r. e.). If injured while performing work or services in a capacity or an enterprise covered by the Act, he may recover benefits; but if injured while performing work or services in a capacity or an enterprise exclud[697]*697ed from coverage, he may not recover. Denny v. Dept. of Labor & Industries, etc., 172 Wash. 631, 21 P.2d 275, at 278 (1933); Maeda v. Dept. of Labor & Industries, 192 Wash. 87, 72 P.2d 1034, at 1035 (1937). See also 172 A.L.R. 382.”

On the day of his death Thomas did not go to the Cal-Tex plant and, therefore, did not report for work or perform any work for Cal-Tex. The evidence establishes that just prior to his death Thomas was apparently either preparing his breakfast or cleaning the swimming pool.

We agree that the definition given by the trial court in connection with issue 3 was a correct one, 13 Words and Phrases 419, 420; 27B C.J.S. Domestic pp. 979, 980. We believe that the record conclusively shows that Thomas, at the time of his death, was engaged in one of two activities: he was acting as a domestic servant, or he was attending to purely personal matters. In view of our disposition of this appeal, we believe the answer of the jury to issue 3 was not controlling.

By point three appellant says that there was no evidence that Thomas drowned in the course of his employment, and point four says there was insufficient evidence to sustain the finding of the jury in issue 2 that Thomas drowned in the course of his employment with Cal-Tex. By point five appellant says there was no evidence that Thomas at the time of his death was acting as an employee of Cal-Tex within the meaning of the term “employee” as defined by Art. 8309, Sec. 1, V.A.C.S.; point six says there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s answer to issue 1 that Thomas was acting as an employee of Cal-Tex at the time of his death.

Art. 8309, Sec. 1, V.A.C.S., provides in part:

“ ‘Employee’ shall mean every person in the service of another under any contract of hire . . . except one whose employment is not in the usual course of the trade, business, profession or occupation of his employer . . . .”

Issue 1 asked the jury whether Thomas was an employee of Cal-Tex, and the answer was that he was an employee.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Torres v. Industrial Commission
457 P.2d 750 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1969)
Commercial Standard Fire & Marine Insurance Co. v. Hood
474 S.W.2d 522 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1971)
Hardware Dealers' Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. King
426 S.W.2d 215 (Texas Supreme Court, 1968)
Denny v. Department of Labor & Industries
21 P.2d 275 (Washington Supreme Court, 1933)
Maeda v. Department of Labor & Industries
72 P.2d 1034 (Washington Supreme Court, 1937)
Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n v. Derrick
207 S.W.2d 199 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1947)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
547 S.W.2d 694, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 2677, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aetna-casualty-surety-co-v-estate-of-thomas-texapp-1977.